Author: Todd Tresidder
Publisher: FinancialMentor
ISBN: 978-1-939273-06-2

“The amount of money you can afford to spend in retirement is dependent not only on your actual investment returns but also on the order of those returns,” Todd Tresidder writes in his book, How Much Money Do I Need to Retire: Uncommon Financial Planning Wisdom for a Stress-Free Retirement.

This two-hundred-and–twenty-six-page paperback targets those planning or getting ready to retire from work. After an introduction, the book is divided into three sections, ending with a conclusion, bonus material, afterword, glossary, and author’s biography. With a few black and white charts and numbered lists, bolded or italicized words are included.

The writer explains in the first section the smart way of conventional retirement planning, dividing the topic into five parts that discuss retirement costs, assumptions, essential questions, accurately estimating investment returns, and figuring out your “magical” retirement number. The other two sections cover obtaining a creative lifestyle and simplistic cash-flow planning.

Although this book was published in late 2019, before the coronavirus and stock market fluctuations, I like that it advocates one should be aware of what is ahead as retirement approaches. Since I retired at age fifty (yet still maintain my small business) and my husband did two years ago, we heartily agree with the book’s many concepts about not taping into principal, assume plausible outcomes, and spending less than you need. I appreciate the details explaining the Monte Carlo calculator’s limitations, expectancy models based on valuations, diversifying with passive income, and scenario analysis.

While the book is well-written, there is plenty of the writer’s referral to his early retirement and free online downloads or other books he has written (which does factor into his personal passive income suggestions). Some may be frustrated there are no charts or forms to fill out to obtain a magic number that technically does not exist. Those who only rely on their monthly pension and social security checks after retiring may panic over the potential of their dwindling funds not lasting. Others may prefer a traditional retirement planning with someone else doing all the footwork and monitoring it for them.

While reading this book, I noticed passive real estate and business incomes were often promoted as well as insurance and annuities. Since my husband and I were fortuitous in planning our retirements by paying off all debt including our house early and always living within our means, I did not find anything new in the book, only reinforcement that we made the right choices when it came to saving for retirement.

If you are young and have years or decades to plan your retirement, this is a good read to help you understand how to save and be wise in your investments, but there is no full-proof way to ensure your wealth, especially with the current status of our economy in 2020.

Thanks to the author, Book Launchers, and Bookpleasures for this complimentary book that I am under no obligation to review.